Hetfield: "My gut feeling is… I think 'Master of Puppets' represents a certain time in history. It was kind of the end of the Cliff Burton era in METALLICA, which is sad, but also very important. And maybe 'Master of Puppets' was the record that a lot of the early fans identified with. 'Cause after that Jason [Newsted] joined the band and then the popularity became bigger. And then the 'black' album… It was different after 'Master of Puppets'. So I think there's still an innocence about it and just a real 'fuck you, world' attitude to it still. And we weren't, I think, very influenced by all of the 'bigness' of METALLICA. Plus the songs — they have that energy, that fire; they're still youthful, but we were still growing, and the songs got grander and bigger, and [we added] more character to the songs. I think every song on that record is really good and it stands up to time."

"We had played almost all the songs live before, 'cause they were all, I guess, songs that needed to be played live. 'Orion' was the one song that we never really did live, and that seems to be one of the most fun — maybe because we didn't play it live, but… It's very emotional, even though there's no words to it, and having Rob Trujillo in the band now playing some amazing Cliff-style… it sounds better than ever. But I would say the songs themselves remind of an innocent METALLICA. The word 'innocent' in a… what kind of way?! Not stupid, but in a not tarnished, not ruined by fame. [Laughs] Even though we've tried our hardest to not be touched by popularity, it's impossible to not feel the effects of it. So the honesty and the innocence of 'Master of Puppets' — still sleeping, living at the studio; still roughing it and still having that fire. And only METALLICA on our minds — just METALLICA. Now it's different. There's family, there's a lot of things that are important in our lives. I think 'Master of Puppets' was… that was all we ever though about — ever."